Examining Whether Social Factors Affect Listeners Sensitivity to Talker-Specific Information During Their Online Perception of Spoken Words

McLennan and Luce (2005) found no significant cost associated with changing which talker produced a particular word from the first block of trials to the second (no talker effects) when participants responded relatively quickly (easy lexical decision), and that talker effects emerged when participants responded relatively slowly (hard lexical decision). In a lexical decision task, participants hear words and nonwords and reaction times to correct responses are measured. In the current study, we examined whether social factors would lead to talker effects in an easy lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, participants were told that they have a chance to be part of a desirable high achieving group if they performed with high accuracy. Based on previous time-course findings, we predicted that talker effects would emerge in the current experiment, given that participants\u27 attention to accuracy was expected to slow processing. Participants on the contrary sped up. We successfully demonstrated that group belonging is a sufficiently strong prime to alter the way participants perform in this task. In Experiment 2, participants (all males) were told that they would have the opportunity to meet the two talkers (one male and one female) they would hear during the experiment at the end. Moreover, participants were given some (fabricated) background information about the talkers, including mention that the female is attractive and the male is unattractive. Based on previous findings in social psychology, we predicted that the male participants would attend more to the female\u27s voice than to the male\u27s voice. We demonstrated that the female serves as a more effective prime for words later spoken by both the same female talker, and also by the male talker. Examining the relationship between social factors and talker effects should lead to improved models of spoken word recognition, and provide important new insights into how listeners perceive spoken words in various social context

Examining Whether Social Factors Affect Listeners Sensitivity to Talker-Specific Information During Their Online Perception of Spoken Words

McLennan and Luce (2005) found no significant cost associated with changing which talker produced a particular word from the first block of trials to the second (no talker effects) when participants responded relatively quickly (easy lexical decision), and that talker effects emerged when participants responded relatively slowly (hard lexical decision). In a lexical decision task, participants hear words and nonwords and reaction times to correct responses are measured. In the current study, we examined whether social factors would lead to talker effects in an easy lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, participants were told that they have a chance to be part of a desirable high achieving group if they performed with high accuracy. Based on previous time-course findings, we predicted that talker effects would emerge in the current experiment, given that participants\u27 attention to accuracy was expected to slow processing. Participants on the contrary sped up. We successfully demonstrated that group belonging is a sufficiently strong prime to alter the way participants perform in this task. In Experiment 2, participants (all males) were told that they would have the opportunity to meet the two talkers (one male and one female) they would hear during the experiment at the end. Moreover, participants were given some (fabricated) background information about the talkers, including mention that the female is attractive and the male is unattractive. Based on previous findings in social psychology, we predicted that the male participants would attend more to the female\u27s voice than to the male\u27s voice. We demonstrated that the female serves as a more effective prime for words later spoken by both the same female talker, and also by the male talker. Examining the relationship between social factors and talker effects should lead to improved models of spoken word recognition, and provide important new insights into how listeners perceive spoken words in various social context

Health Practitioners’ Perspective On Caring For Older Adults In Rural Maine – A Pilot Study

Research poster stemming from IPEC mini-grant funded student project Health Practioners’ Perspective on Caring for Older Adults in Rural Maine. This pilot study was designed to identify challenges and determine potential solutions for Maine practitioners delivering health care to rural Maine’s aging population. UNE students from several healthcare professions partnered to interview physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, social workers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists caring for community-dwelling older adults in Rural Maine. The student researchers then analyzed the interviews and identified themes.https://dune.une.edu/minigrant_hppoa/1001/thumbnail.jp

Novel implications of Lingo-1 signaling in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of perinatal phencyclidine treated rats in a neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia

Abstract of a poster presentation

Understanding, attitudes and dehumanisation towards autistic individuals

Research suggests that while individuals may self-report positive attitudes towards autism, dehumanising attitudes (seeing another as less than human) may still prevail. This study investigated knowledge, openness and dehumanising attitudes of non-autistic people towards autistic people. A total of 361 participants completed a survey measuring autism openness, knowledge and experience, along with a measure of dehumanisation. Results showed that knowledge of autism was comparable to past research and females were more open towards autism. Findings also indicated evidence for dehumanisation, with a particular denial of ‘human uniqueness’ traits. Furthermore, dehumanisation was related to openness towards autism. These findings have implications for targeting attitudes to reduce stigma associated with autism

A concept‐wide association study to identify potential risk factors for nonadherence among prevalent users of antihypertensives

PurposeWe sought to determine whether an association study using information contained in clinical notes could identify known and potentially novel risk factors for nonadherence to antihypertensive medications.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective concept‐wide association study (CWAS) using clinical notes to identify potential risk factors for medication nonadherence, adjusting for age, sex, race, baseline blood pressure, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and a combined comorbidity score. Participants included Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older receiving care at the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates network from 2010‐2012 and enrolled in a Medicare Advantage program. Concepts were extracted from clinical notes in the year prior to the index prescription date for each patient. We tested associations with the outcome for 5013 concepts extracted from clinical notes in a derivation cohort (4382 patients) and accounted for multiple hypothesis testing by using a false discovery rate threshold of less than 5% (q < .05). We then confirmed the associations in a validation cohort (3836 patients). Medication nonadherence was defined using a proportion of days covered (PDC) threshold less than 0.8 using pharmacy claims data.ResultsWe found 415 concepts associated with nonadherence, which we organized into 11 clusters using a hierarchical clustering approach. Volume depletion and overload, assessment of needs at the point of discharge, mood disorders, neurological disorders, complex coordination of care, and documentation of noncompliance were some of the factors associated with nonadherence.ConclusionsThis approach was successful in identifying previously described and potentially new risk factors for antihypertensive nonadherence using the clinical narrative.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151999/1/pds4850.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151999/2/pds4850_am.pd

Equity, technological innovation and sustainable behaviour in a low-carbon future

The world must ambitiously curtail greenhouse gas emissions to achieve climate stability. The literature often supposes that a low-carbon future will depend on a mix of technological innovation—improving the performance of new technologies and systems—as well as more sustainable behaviours such as travelling less or reducing waste. To what extent are low-carbon technologies, and their associated behaviours, currently equitable, and what are potential policy and research implications moving forward? In this Review, we examine how four innovations in technology and behaviour—improved cookstoves and heating, battery electric vehicles, household solar panels and food-sharing—create complications and force trade-offs on different equity dimensions. We draw from these cases to discuss a typology of inequity cutting across demographic (for example, gender, race and class), spatial (for example, urban and rural divides), interspecies (for example, human and non-human) and temporal (for example, future generations) vulnerabilities. Ultimately, the risk of inequity abounds in decarbonization pathways. Moreover, low-carbon innovations are not automatically just, equitable or even green. We show how such technologies and behaviours can both introduce new inequalities and reaffirm existing ones. We then discuss potential policy insights and leverage points to make future interventions more equitable and propose an integrated research agenda to supplement these policy efforts

Genetic and epigenetic regulation in Lingo-1 : Effects on cognitive function and white matter microstructure in a case-control study for schizophrenia

Leucine-rich repeat and immunoglobulin domain-containing protein (Lingo-1) plays a vital role in a large number of neuronal processes underlying learning and memory, which are known to be disrupted in schizophrenia. However, Lingo-1 has never been examined in the context of schizophrenia. The genetic association of a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs3144) and methylation (CpG sites) in the Lingo-1 3′-UTR region was examined, with the testing of cognitive dysfunction and white matter (WM) integrity in a schizophrenia case-control cohort (n = 268/group). A large subset of subjects (97 control and 161 schizophrenia subjects) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans to assess WM integrity. Frequency of the rs3144 minor allele was overrepresented in the schizophrenia population (p = 0.03), with an odds ratio of 1.39 (95% CI 1.016–1.901). CpG sites surrounding rs3144 were hypermethylated in the control population (p = 0.032) compared to the schizophrenia group. rs3144 genotype was predictive of membership to a subclass of schizophrenia subjects with generalized cognitive deficits (p < 0.05), in addition to having associations with WM integrity (p = 0.018). This is the first study reporting a potential implication of genetic and epigenetic risk factors in Lingo-1 in schizophrenia. Both of these genetic and epigenetic alterations may also have associations with cognitive dysfunction and WM integrity in the context of the schizophrenia pathophysiology